Tuck planche push up: technique and progression

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The tuck planche push up takes the tuck planche support — a straight-arm hold with the knees pulled tightly to the chest to keep the body lever as short as possible — and adds a full-range press through the elbows while that compact, forward-leaned line is maintained. It is the shortest-lever, most accessible press in the planche family: easier than the straddle planche push up and the full planche push up because tucking the legs trades away most of the leverage demand on the shoulders, but still the first dynamic planche skill, asking the shoulders and chest to produce force through a range of motion rather than just resist a fixed load, on top of everything the static tuck planche already demands from the core and shoulder girdle.

Technique

Begin in the bottom of a squat with your hands on a firm, level floor or on low parallettes, just outside your hips, and grip the support firmly.
Lock the elbows and keep the shoulder blades protracted and depressed without rounding the upper back, then lean forward to shift your weight from your feet onto your arms.
Continue leaning forward as you raise the hips toward shoulder height, pulling the knees tightly to the chest and tucking the feet close to the glutes as the feet leave the floor.
Once the compact tuck planche line is set, bend the elbows and lower the chest toward the hands, tracking the elbows back close to the body rather than letting them flare wide.
Stop the descent at the depth where the shoulder line and the tucked position stay under control, then press back to the starting locked-elbow position through the same forward lean.
Re-establish full-body tension at the top — protracted shoulders, a tight tuck, an active core — before starting the next rep, and return the feet to the floor under control at the end of the set.

Preparation

Equipment and conditions

A clear, firm, level floor with room to step in and out of the position safely.
Optional low parallettes for a more neutral wrist angle during the press.
An established tuck planche hold (around 12 seconds, per the tuck planche completion criteria) and a comfortable pseudo planche push up before attempting the tuck press.
A pain-free wrist and shoulder warm-up before each session.

The locked prerequisite is the tuck planche hold — its forward lean, active shoulder girdle, and compact tuck carry over directly into the press, so it should already be comfortable for close to its target hold time before adding reps. Supplementary work that helps close the remaining gap:

Pseudo planche push up for shoulder-forward pressing strength at a fixed hand position, without the balance demand of a free-standing lean.
Planche lean for tolerance of the forward shoulder position and hand pressure under static load.
L-sit or other compression work if the tuck loosens under fatigue rather than staying tight through the set.

Risks

This is a straight-arm pressing skill performed through the wrists, elbows, and shoulders under full bodyweight; build it from a solid tuck planche hold and comfortable pseudo planche push ups before adding the press.
Keep the tempo controlled on both the lowering and pressing phases. A fast, uncontrolled drop into the bottom position adds sudden load to the wrist and elbow joints and to the shoulder girdle.
If the tuck loosens, the knees drift away from the chest, or the shoulder blades lose their protracted-depressed position during the rep, that is usually a sign the working range or rep count has exceeded what can be controlled — stop the set rather than forcing another rep.
A loosening tuck under fatigue is typically a core-compression limitation rather than a shoulder problem; pair this work with compression training such as L-sit holds if the tuck cannot stay tight through the set.
Persistent wrist, elbow, or shoulder pain, or a loss of range of motion, warrants rest and assessment by a qualified healthcare professional rather than continued attempts.

Muscles

Muscle load

PrimarySecondary

The shoulders remain the dominant target, now working through a range of motion rather than a fixed isometric angle, with the chest and triceps taking on a noticeably larger share of the work than in the static tuck hold because they actively drive elbow extension through the press. The biceps and the other shoulder-girdle stabilizers (trapezius, latissimus) control the scapula and the straight-arm line, while the core carries a large share of the work to keep the knees compressed tightly to the chest, and the glutes and quadriceps help hold the tucked lower body compact through the moving rep. The hands and forearms manage grip and the small pressure shifts as the center of mass moves with each rep. Because the tuck keeps the lever shorter than the straddle or full planche push up, target percentages here sit below both on every shared muscle group; direct EMG data for this exact dynamic variant was not found, so the balance among these muscles is a conservative estimate built from the static tuck planche's profile plus the same triceps/chest increase that pressing adds to the heavier planche push-up variants.

Stats

Strength-dominant. Balance comes next.

Strength: 0.00
Balance: 0.00
Power: 0.00
Control: 0.00
Endurance: 0.00
Mobility: 0.00

Strength stays the primary quality, rated a little above the static tuck planche because the same short-lever shoulder demand now has to be produced dynamically through a range of motion rather than only resisted isometrically. Power appears here as a secondary quality the static hold barely has, reflecting the work of pressing the body up and down, though it carries less weight than in the straddle or full planche push up since the shorter lever means less mass is being moved through range. Balance stays close to the static tuck planche's share, since the compact tuck still balances over a narrow base even while the elbows bend, and control covers the coordinated tuck position and shoulder-girdle organization needed to keep the line clean through the rep.

Completion criteria

Perform 5 consecutive tuck planche push up reps with straight elbows at the top, a compact tuck maintained throughout the range, hips at shoulder height, and a controlled tempo on both the lowering and pressing phases — no loosening tuck and no loss of the forward lean.

Progression thresholds

Lower threshold: 3 reps
Upper threshold: 10 reps

Treat 10 controlled reps as a product checkpoint for moving primary volume toward the straddle planche push up, not a universal physiological standard — no fixed rep progression for this specific variant was found in the available sources. If even 3 clean reps cannot be produced without the tuck loosening or the lean collapsing, return to the tuck planche hold or to supplementary pressing work such as the pseudo planche push up until the pattern is solid again.